All admirals were literally stalled by commanders way back in MF. Don't get why you're acting like only the top tiers can stand up to other top tiers. Unless they decided to go full force on them like Luffy's doing with Lucci; any given admiral can be stalled by a non-top-tier as long as the guy in question is strong enough. Zoro is good enough to fight any top-tier even at full power. He's just not strong enough to win.
Like you serious admiral is not comparable to a yonko commander so
Marco clashed with kizaru but they are in no way comparable
Jozu clashed with aokiji but they are in no way comparable
If an admiral has an opportunity to fight an emperor but cant because they're struggling to get past a yonko commander its lame
Zoro isn't giving mihawk or any admiral legit fights yet
Current zoro and EOS zoro aren't comparable